I believe today was the most difficult/important shoot so far.
We were deep in the heart of the Red Light District to shoot gun and chase scenes along the canal. We had a permit to use guns and shoot blanks out of them for five hours but we had 9 hours of shooting ahead of us, so if we didn't stay on point the day could go sour very fast. And on top of this little predicament it had just started to rain and get windy when we arrived on set at ten to seven in the morning. And on top of the unfortunate weather that was already occurring, the driver that was meant to pick up the directors and producers and the camera equipment that we were meant to use had over slept and was an hour and a half late, so that really botched our timing and everyone was in a terrible mood from the mounting delays and screw-ups that had happened all before nine in the morning.
I on the other hand had a case of 'Schadenfraude.' Seeing as Avenue Q is one of my favorite musicals, this name came to me right away. It's direct German translation, according to the song, is 'happiness at the misfortune of others' which couldn't be more apt at explaining how I felt. I had gotten plenty of sleep, I was on time to set, I felt in control of all of my duties and seeing everyone else scrambling around made me happy that I wasn't stressed and that I wasn't having those problems. If that makes me a terrible person then fine but I wasn't going to let everyone else's mood ruin my genuinely happy mood!
Side note: The only kind of crappy thing to happen to me that morning was that when I got up at 6:30 to take a nice, warm, relaxing shower, I came to the stark realization that there was no hot water coming out the the shower head. Being a trooper I pressed on with the shower because I would rather be cold for a moment then feel gross on set all day. But as I was shivering under the cold water I look down to my feet and realize that brown water is pooling around my feet. Not immediately pulling out of the water because when I dye my hair, several days after the water when I wash my hair with be a murky brown from the dye. But then I remembered that I have NOT dyed my hair since...oh I don't know, since a month after I moved to NYC...so once I remembered that I quickly removed myself from the brown spray. Pissed because I was now cold, wet, covered in what must amount to canal water and with no way to wash off the canal water that was already on me I was in a bit of a pickle. But the shower Gods decided to smile on me because then all of a sudden it turned warm and clear. But at the end I don't really know who to thank for this turn of events but I was sure grateful that it did!
Moving on, since we were shooting on the main drag of the Red Light District, we were required to pay off the 'pimps' of the women that were in the window that may or may not be able to be seen in the peripheral of the cameras. I thought that was a fun little tidbit. And we also had to block off a whole street. And of course as chance would have it the more that you don't want people walking down a certain street the more that people are curious and want to do it. It's like when you tell your teenage daughter not to do something, the more she will in turn want to do it. So needless to say the chaos was growing in the streets as the day progressed and it was becoming increasingly harder to keep the passing pedestrians off the bridges and streets we were using.
Because of all of the aforementioned problems we were running behind schedule and the first thing to go was lunch. Everyone outside was not allowed lunch, not because the production staff is mean but because we only had a permit to shoot here for one day and if we didn't get it we were pretty much screwed. I was cold, wet and hungry but at the end of the day it is what had to be done to get the shots we needed.
And now I come to the part of the day that I am not really sure I enjoyed but it is something that has never been done in the Red Light District and I practically was forced to do....
We have come upon the scene when the lead actor gets pushed up against the Red Light windows, three of them to be exact, and since we were paying the pimps to use this space we didn't have any ladies to fill the windows when the actor gets pushed up against the windows. Amy and Carlijn already knew that they were going to be Red Light girls and they were having trouble finding someone to fill the last one. They weren't going to use me because I have a speaking role coming up in a week that it would be obvious if they used me in both places. But, in sheer desperation they asked/told me that I was going to be the third girl but that they were going to film it so you wouldn't see my face. Lovely. In the sense of the Red Light District, what I was wearing was very conservative, but the crowd that gather outside the windows while we were filming and the whole crew, some of which I have become fast friends with, were watching intently as the shooting of the scene progressed. The silver lining in this scenario is that not one film, not one, has been able to do what we were able to do that day. Tourists are not allowed to take pictures and no one that is not a 'paid lady' has ever been in those windows. So in that sense it was kinda cool to be on the other side of the glass but as a whole, I am quite content with my lifestyle choices and the fact that I will never call that my profession. So there is my confession. I was in a Red Light window to film a scene. Take with that what you will because I am not entirely sure how to spin it right now. But below are two pictures that were on my camera after this experience.
After filming, Amy and I went out with the typical director/producer crew for Mexican food. I was disgustingly full by the end of the meal because the tacos were massive (they actually give you directions on how to roll a taco, strange) and we were drinking pitchers of the best margaritas that I have ever had! Amy and I decided to call it an early night and were both in bed by 12:30 even though we have the day off tomorrow. Wanted to spend the day sleeping in and seeing sights rather than being hungover. But I still have several meetings tomorrow so it's not like its an official day off.
Hope you had fun reading this particular post!
Love,
-M
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